Clarity
by loulou26
Summary: Felicity is pleasantly surprised when Oliver decides to start training her himself. One-shot.


**_Clarity_**

The last thing Felicity Smoak had expected when Oliver Queen had told her he was taking over her training was this. Standing in the Foundry, a stick in each hand, she faced a shirtless Oliver. And he was grinning.

"So…what exactly am I supposed to do with these?" She looked down at the items in her hands. Of course, she'd seen Diggle and Oliver sparring with them, but they always moved so fast she could never keep her eyes on them.

"We're stepping up your training now. You know what to do to defend yourself, Diggle has already taught you all you need to know on that front, but I want to make sure that you're prepared if it comes to a real fight." His tone was neutral, but the expression on his face was anything but. "One with weapons."

She knew he hated the idea of her having to fight, and truth be told, so did she. But this was necessary. She was going out into the field a lot more now and in doing so, she exposed herself to all sorts of nasty people. If Oliver couldn't stop her, and oh boy did he try, than she needed to know what to do if anything happened.

"Okay but…"

"What?"

"Well, I doubt anyone is going to attack me with a stick so…why can't you just show me how to shoot a gun?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes. "A gun's no use to you if someone already has a hold on you. Close proximity requires a different approach."

She frowned at him. "If a gun is no use in close proximity then how is another weapon any different?"

Oliver shook his head and sighed. "There are too many things that can go wrong with a gun; you could end up getting yourself shot instead of your target."

She must've been over thinking because the next thing she knew, he was standing right in front of her. "Felicity."

She glanced up at him. "Hmm?"

"Trust me, okay?" His eyes softened as they roamed her face, much as they did that night in the Queen's mansion so many months ago. Felicity had tried not to think about it, to just let it go. And for the most part, she had succeeded. Things had returned to normal between them and nothing had been said about it since.

But every so often, she would catch him watching her, just out of the corner of her eye and as soon as he realised she knew he was looking, he would turn away. She had never asked him why but it was something that hadn't stopped, if anything, it was becoming more and more frequent. So she wondered where this sudden desire to train her himself had come from. Diggle was normally the one that handled all that.

"Okay. Let's do this." She saw the brief hint of a smile as he stepped back and raised his right arm.

"The purpose of this is not to attack, remember that. This is purely for defence. Raise your right arm and touch my stick."

Felicity paused, staring at him with wide eyes. She could feel the blush creeping into her cheeks and was powerless to stop it. Why did her brain always have to take everything he said the wrong way? He obviously knew what she was thinking, because he smiled and shook his head, which made it even more mortifying.

"Felicity, concentrate." She nodded and adopted the fighting stance that Diggle had taught her.

"Now I'm going to come at you and I want you to block my attack, okay?"

"Um…okay. How though?" When his eyes widened in disbelief she quickly added. "I mean I know how to block you without these, but with them…how?"

Again, he shook his head and she had the vague notion that he was losing patience with her. Yes, things were definitely back to normal. He leaned forward and grabbed her right hand, lifting it higher. "Put your arm up to block my attack and as soon as I strike, you're going to bring your left hand in to hit me here." He pointed to his right side.

Felicity could feel the heat from his hand seeping into her skin, sending tingles up her arm. With a quick shake of her head, she swallowed and tried to go for a nonchalant tone. "Oh well, that doesn't sound so hard."

She soon came to regret that statement when she ended up flat on her back on the mat, with Oliver standing over her looking a little smug. He thrust out a hand to help her up. "Never underestimate your opponent. Their goal is to hurt you, you have to be faster, think on your feet."

_Easy for you to say_, she thought. Why did he always have to be so…shirtless around her? She rolled her shoulders around and moved her neck from side to side. _Come on, Felicity._ "Okay, come at me again."

He smiled for a second before his face turned serious and then he lunged. Felicity, seeing an opportunity, ducked under his attack and swept her right foot out, catching him off guard. As soon as he hit the mat, she was on top of him, pointing the end of her stick into his chest.

"You were saying?" She said with a smirk.

He chuckled and placed his hands on her thighs and she prayed that her face didn't reflect the current swirling of heat she felt in her chest. "Nice job."

"Thank you." What was wrong with her voice? She hoped he hadn't noticed the slight waver in her tone as his hand slid a little further up her leg to her hip. She didn't think he even knew he was doing it.

"You forgot one thing though," he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

She scoffed. "Oliver, you're currently lying on your back with me on top of you and a weapon aimed at your chest. Face it, I've got you."

She didn't miss the way his eyes slowly grazed down her body to the point where they were connected. But he quickly masked it and grinned. "Oh do you?"

She let out a loud shriek as he grabbed her hips and used his legs to flip her over his head. He did it slowly so as not to hurt her but before she knew it, she was lying on the mat opposite him, her head next to his, and all the air driven out of her lungs.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his expression turning serious, but there was something in his eyes. Something that she couldn't quite read.

Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded her head and tried to control her breathing, which wasn't easy with the way he was staring at her. It was almost like…well she had only seen that look once before.

She saw his gaze flicker down to her mouth, and without realising it, she started to chew on her bottom lip. She froze as he raised a hand and brushed his thumb along her lip, easing it from her teeth.

"Oliver…" She trailed off, realising that she had absolutely no idea what she was about to say to him. This was a new situation and it seemed that neither of them knew how to react.

A soft sigh escaped him as his eyes took in her entire face, almost as if he was just drinking in the sight of her. Before she knew what was happening, he moved forward slightly, a light shining in his eyes, and gently pressed his lips to hers.

Felicity responded, pressing herself in further as his mouth teased hers, his tongue sweeping across the lip she had been biting before. It was such a strange sensation. Not only was she kissing Oliver Queen, but she was doing so upside down. His bottom lip caressed her top one and it was both weird and incredibly hot at the same time.

It was just as his tongue probed her mouth, seeking entrance, that common sense seemed to return to her. Well, it practically slammed into her. She gasped and pulled herself away, ignoring the confused expression on his face.

"Felicity?"

Ugh, why did he have to say her name like that all the time? He always poured so much emotion into the way he said it.

She stood up so fast that she almost lost her balance and as soon as she reached a hand out to steady herself, Oliver was right there, holding onto her elbows.

"You okay? What happened?" He studied her face, concern now taking over the desire she'd seen just a few seconds ago.

She shook her head and waved his hands away. "Nothing, I'm okay. I just stood up too fast, head rush, you know? No big deal, it's nothing I haven't had before, and I just realised that I haven't really eaten much today so I should probably…"

"Hey." Large hands grasped her bare shoulders, the heat from his touch distracting her from her rambling. "What is it?"

She let out a quiet sigh. "Oliver…that wasn't right. Not that I mean it felt wrong or anything because it _really_ didn't, but…we shouldn't have done that."

"Felicity," He paused for a second, raising his eyes to the ceiling as if gathering some sort of strength. "I have wanted to do that for a long time."

Her mouth fell open. "Oh…" She swallowed and cleared her throat. "How uh…how long?"

The corners of his mouth tilted up into that little smile that seemed to be reserved only for when he was around her. "Months. But you're right."

"I am?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't have happened that way."

"Oh."

His hand slowly moved up her shoulder, to the back of her neck, cupping it, and as the shiver ran down her spine, he grinned.

"This is how it should've happened."

His mouth claimed hers almost ferociously, and this time he didn't hesitate to deepen the kiss. Keeping one hand on the back of her neck, he wrapped his other around her waist and drew her closer, pressing her into him so that there wasn't an inch of space between them.

When the need for oxygen became a problem, he slowly pulled away, but only far enough to press his forehead against hers. Staring into her eyes, breathing heavily, he swallowed hard. "You have no idea how much I love you."

His expression, so serious, almost pained, was her undoing. "Oliver I…I love you too."

She saw the brief flash of shock in his eyes and wondered if he'd doubted that she would say it back. That thought made her sad. Did he not think he deserved to be loved? But how could she not? She was hopelessly, irretrievably in love with this man.

"I love you." She whispered against his lips and felt him smile. He cupped her face in his hands, taking a moment to just look at her, and then slowly, he slid her glasses down and off.

He placed them on the table next to him and turned back to her with a sheepish grin. "I've wanted to do that for a while too."

She chuckled as he wrapped himself around her again, and then, once again, became lost in his kiss.


End file.
